Kirino Kousaka
Kirino Kōsaka (高坂 桐乃, Kōsaka Kirino) is the main heroine of the series. Kyousuke's younger sister and the youngest of the two siblings of the Kousaka family. She is an overachiever who seemingly lives a perfect life and is idolized by almost everybody. However, she keeps a big secret to her family — that she is an avid otaku and a fan of adult-rated games, especially those involving brother-sister dynamics. Her favorite TV series is Stardust Witch Meruru. Kyousuke's discovery of this secret led Kirino to introduce him into the world of an otaku, and eventually, allowed him to reestablish his role as an older brother to her. She is voiced by Ayana Taketatsu. Appearance Kirino has long hair dyed light brownThe hair color is as intended, as specified and described by Kyousuke in the Light Novel Vol. 1 Chapter 1. and blue eyes. She has a small tiger-like tooth that can be often seen when she opens her mouth. Her back-length hair forms two fringes that curl towards her face and has two fringes that point outwards, with two long locks hanging loose on each side of her face. She prefers to let her hair untied, but uses two pink hair clips to secure the fringes of hair on her forehead. The rest reaches her waist. Her original hair color before she dyed it was dark brown, a shade similar to Manami's. She is more or less tall and has a well-proportioned body and long legs. Personality Kirino is known for having a go-getter attitude. She shows a keen focus to anything she deems interesting, whether it is studying and athletics, or hobby-related activities. This attitude of hers when it comes to school activities has rewarded her with above-average marks, even as she enters the career of modeling. She developed a sort of perfectionist attitude due to becoming an overachiever, which eventually made her more prone to struggling when the odds are against her. When these moments come; however, she displays a more passive side. During her initial interactions with Kyousuke, she demonstrates an attitude similar to a "Tsundere", with the bossy and abusive part more dominant. Although she maintains this attitude, she slowly tries to open up to her brother at times, reluctantly expressing gratitude on things that Kyousuke has done for her. It is later clarified that she does care for Kyousuke, although she chooses indirect methods, sometimes laced with her sharp tongue, to show her sisterly affection for him. She has a strong "little sister" fetish and owns many adult games with older brother/little sister themes, which is funded by her salary for modeling. Despite this, she insists that she does not know why she started liking it, though it is suggested that Kirino has a brother complex and is using the games as a surrogate to this. She often denies such feelings and believes the 2D and 3D worlds should be kept separate. Aside from this, she is also an avid fan of Stardust☆Witch Meruru and any series with cute themes in general. Background Kirino is a third-year student of an unnamed middle school in Chiba. She is known not only for her above-average grades, but also for her athletic prowess in track and field. Aside from living a life as a student, she is also a part-time model for various fashion magazines, which is her main source of pocket money to sate her hunger for otaku merchandise. According to Kyousuke, his relationship with Kirino was much more positive in the past. However, due to a series of events, she changed her interactions with him. By the start of the series, the two have been living with minimal interaction between each other. Plot Kirino's Secret Life Kirino has been used to treating Kyousuke rudely, especially with Kyousuke often acting unfriendly or indifferent at home. In one of her trips outside, she drops a DVD case of Stardust Witch Meruru on the Kousaka Residence's doorstep. Kyousuke ends up finding the DVD case and takes it to his room, where he concludes that Kirino is the owner of the DVD. To his shock, it actually contains an eroge entitled Let's Make Love With Little Sister!. Kirino later confronts Kyousuke in his own bedroom, and in the pretense of "life consultation" invites her older brother into her bedroom. After confirming that she is the owner of the DVD case found earlier, Kirino also shows him a part of her hobby by letting him play one of her eroge games in secret. This would mark the start of Kirino's constant provision of eroge for Kyousuke to play, as well as the beginning of Kyousuke's interaction with Kirino's secret hobby. ] Kyousuke finds out that Kirino may be in need of other people to talk about anime, so he gives her advice (actually a suggestion relayed by Kyousuke from his friend Manami) to register on an otaku community. She reluctantly joins a social networking service group called "Otaku Girls Unite!" under the handle name Kiririn. Shortly, the group's moderator named Saori welcomes her to the group and invites her to a scheduled ofukai (offline meeting) with the other members of the group, to take place in Akihabara. ] Kirino accepts the invitation and attends the ofukai with Kyousuke tagging along as her "backup" from a distance. She soon realizes the difficulty in mingling with total strangers, and the only one who was able to console her after this ofukai was Kyousuke himself. Saori was able to catch up to them and invites the two, along with another member who goes by the alias Kuroneko, to an after party in a nearby fast food restaurant, followed by a trip across Akihabara before parting ways. Kirino refuses to admit that she had found friends in Saori and Kuroneko, although Kyousuke is certain that the trip wasn't for nothing in the end. Challenges to the Status Quo After the events with Otaku Girls Unite!, Kirino begins joining Saori and Kuroneko in trips across Akihabara, although her relationship with Kuroneko is still shaky due to their divergent tastes in anime. After the two try to desperately make each other fans of the anime series they like, Kirino heads back home, only to discover that her secret hobby as an otaku has been exposed by her strict father, who shows an intense distaste in otaku culture, after the infamous DVD case now falls to the hands of her father after dropping it in a later occasion. . (S1 EP3)]] Kirino storms out of the house after this confrontation, and she was found in the nearby shopping district venting her rage over her father. Kyousuke manages to find her and the siblings talk about their next step. As Kirino decides to stay over at a friend's house, Kyousuke returns home, determined to defend Kirino's hobby even at the risk of destroying his own reputation to his father. Kyousuke was able to settle things with his father about Kirino's hobby, but damaging his image and reputation in the process, and taking a punch from his father as result. Kirino later returned home when the situation had lulled down, and she thanked Kyousuke for his efforts, calling him "Aniki" for the first time. During Summer Comiket, however, another threat to her hobby enters when her friend Ayase Aragaki, who is also a part-time model just like Kirino, finds out about Kirino's hobby and swiftly declares the end to their friendship. As Kirino begins to worry about her friendship with Ayase and how much time is left before Ayase would reveal her hobby to everyone, Kyousuke helps her out once again by clearing Ayase's doubts about anime fans and the otaku culture and again putting his name on the line for the sake of his younger sister. The plan worked as Ayase threw away her doubts just to keep Kirino from being "harassed"(not literal, but a belief of Ayase) by Kyousuke, in exchange for Kyousuke's name being tarnished by making the image of a siscon and pervert in Ayase's eyes. Kirino's New Careers The Fateful Trip to America Though delayed, Kirino eventually decides to go to America to pursue Track and Field. Relationships Kyousuke Kousaka Kirino's achievements both inside and outside campus has caused Kyousuke to develop feelings of insecurity towards her, mainly due to Kyousuke's mediocre mentality clashing with her ability to excel in everything. In turn, Kirino becomes more and more distant to her older brother while she becomes more attached to her secret hobby. After Kyousuke's discovery of Kirino's hobby, however, things change. Kirino begins to ask for Kyousuke's help in affairs relating to her hobby (including keeping it a secret from others) under the term "life counseling". As these life counseling sessions continue, she slowly develops a sense of dependency to her brother. Later on, it has been confirmed in the light novel series that she is in love with her brother Kyousuke; this is shown by Kirino's increasingly jealous attitude towards any girls who become too close to her brother. As a child, she used to steal Kyousuke's pictures from her fathers photo album and compiled her own album. Ending the series, Kyousuke proposes to Kirino on Christmas Eve - which Kirino tearfully accepts and they decide to become a 'couple until graduation day', which lasted for 3 months. After the graduation, the Kousaka Siblings had a pseudo-marriage in a church, arrange by Kyousuke, and ended their relationship and returned to being normal siblings. After their 'being a couple until graduation' had ended, Kyousuke used his '1 Time Wish' (a bet made by the Kousaka Siblings, during Kyousuke's mock exam, that Kyousuke won) to give Kirino a light kiss on the cheek, implying that while they are no longer a couple, they are still close as siblings. However, Kirino demands after the kiss that the siblings have more "life counseling" when they get home, implying a more serious relationship. Ultimately the state of their relationship is left ambiguous. Kirino's Parents (Daisuke and Yoshino) Because of her tight schedules, Kirino is not that close to her parents. However, her achievements cause her parents great joy; even her strict and gruff father shows his support by compiling pictures of her in a personal album. Manami Tamura Kirino thinks Manami is trying to take her brother away from her, which makes Kirino hostile towards Manami. Kirino even goes as far as claiming she doesn't even remember Manami though they are childhood friends. The two go years without contact and at each encounter Manami is met with extreme animosity, only to respond with disregard and kindness. This stems from Manami's long-time relationship with Kyousuke. They later end up solving much of the misunderstanding and get along better (with Kirino even willing to help out around the shop and teach her about smart phone games). Despite their improved relationship when Kirino is dating her brother, she angers Manami and they brawl until both of them are left bruised and breathless. Ayase Aragaki Kirino has been friends with her as classmates and fellow models working for various fashion magazines. However, Ayase's friendship to her is later revealed to be more of idolizing rather than true friendship; when Ayase initially found out about Kirino's links with the otaku lifestyle, she distanced herself away from Kirino, revealing Ayase's intense dislike for someone with a "disgusting" hobby. However, with the help of Kyousuke, Kirino manages to restore her friendship with Ayase, although at the price of Kyousuke's reputation. Eventually Ayase starts accepting Kirino's hobbies and even joins her otaku friends. Kuroneko Ever since their first meeting at the offline meeting organized by Saori, Kirino and Kuroneko are always at odds with each other, with one usually taunting the other and developing into an argument which forces Saori to mediate most of the time. Saori, however, sees their caustic relationship to be friendship nonetheless. Eventually, they show a caring side to each other, though they would normally not admit it. She later becomes attached to Kirino as friends. Kirino was willing to allow Kuroneko to date her brother despite her feelings for him, but couldn't face her during their dating period. In the alternate ending from the spin-off manga series written by Tsukasa Fushimi, "Ore no Kouhai ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai", Kirino remains close to Kuroneko and often visits her house to see her nieces and sister-in-law. Saori Bajeena Offline meeting by members of the Internet-based community Otaku Girls Unite! allowed Saori, its moderator, to meet Kirino for the first time alongside Kuroneko. Saori instantly becomes attached to her and Kuroneko and their friendship eventually developed to a point that Saori became mad at Kirino for leaving for America on such a short notice. Because of her social status as a daughter of a rich family, Saori struggles to make true friends, so she treasures her bonding times with Kirino. Appearances in Other Series *Kirino makes a cameo appearance in the fourth volume of the manga version of High School DxD. (Chapter 19 Page 6) *Yamato Sakura, the main character of the manga series Imouto Trouble, owns a dakimakura or hugging pillow featuring Kirino. He is shown hugging his Kirino dakimakura upon arriving home at the first chapter of the series. *Kirino, along with Saori, Kuroneko and Kyousuke, is shown walking by in a Comiket in the anime version of Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai, Episode 11, at 4:32 * A poster of Oreimo with Kirino in it was seen in: Anohana: The Flower The Flower That We Saw That Day The Movie at 12:44 * Tomoya Aki, the main character of the light novel series Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata has a poster of Oreimo with Kirino in his room. * Kirino, along with Kyosuke, Ruri and Saori, appear in episode 11 of Eromanga-sensei at 21:24, as they are seen talking about Masamune Izumi's new novel as they walk by him. Trivia * The hair pin of Kirino was given by Kyousuke as a gift when Kyousuke was a first year in middle school. Although, the original hair pin given is not what Kirino usually uses. Kirino had bought similar pins for her daily use.Source: From Volume 12, Chapter 2. References External Links *'Official Twitter': @kirino_kousaka (in Japanese) ko:코우사카 키리노 Category:Characters Category:Kousakas Category:Females Category:Otaku Girls Unite!